Canada Big-Truck Sales Fall 4.5% in March

Medium- and heavy-duty truck sales in Canada slid back into negative territory in March, dropping 4.5% after last month’s encouraging 1.7% uptick, WardsAuto data shows.

Class 8 was down 8.4% as sales gains by Volvo (+38.5%) and Peterbilt (+8.7) were not enough to offset declines by the other manufacturers in the segment. Kenworth sales plunged 31.5% driving down overall parent PACCAR sales 17.0%. International also posted a loss of 20.2%, while group leader Freightliner dipped 7.8% but managed to maintain its share at 26.1%. Through three months, Class 8 was down 5.4% on volume of 5,780 units vs. 6,110 in 2013.

Overall medium-duty sales rose 3.2% on sales of 1,257 units against 1,218 year-ago, boosted by positive results in Classes 6 and 7. For the year, the medium-duty group is up 7.1% on sales of 2,951 units.

In Class 7, International overtook Freightliner as volume leader by posting a 159.0% improvement and nearly doubling their share to 39.5%. Additionally, solid gains by Ford and Kenworth drove deliveries up 32.5%, by far the best March performance of any segment. Hino was the only decliner in Class 7, down 29.4% on small volume.

Sales of Class 6 trucks were up 10.5% and the only other group to post a gain over prior-year. Volume leader International rose 17.5% while Freightliner improved 40.7%. Ford’s volume tumbled 33.3% and Hino was down 23.8%.

Chrysler sales in Class 5 nearly tripled to 168 units from only 49 a year-ago on the strength of the Ram Chassis Cab. Group leader Ford sales skidded 23.4% as their share suffered as well, plunging over 10 percentage points to 39.2%. Overall Class 5 deliveries finished the month down a mere 1.3%, but still up 4.0% through the first quarter.

Class 4 took the biggest year-on-year plunge, off 36.1%, with Isuzu’s domestic models posting another strong month, up 500.0%, while its import line was down 57.9% on much smaller volume. Volume leader Ford deliveries plunged 54.9% as its share fell below 50%. [email protected]